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Possibly a daft question


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Its going to damage (a little bit) the blacking, so if you're going to pressure wash it, paint it afterwards. If you can arrange to moor at a place with decently-secured rings or bollards, then you can moor normally but pass a line underneath your boat at the middle, then attach to a ring and use eg a ratchet strap to tighten it so the boat leans over, this will expose 4-5" of the area of the waterline. Then it could be pressure washed, flaking paint removed and blacked. If you pressure washed it and prepped it in the morning and got the paint on by say around 11am, it would probably be dry enough by say 9pm to go back to level, if you wanted to stay on it overnight.

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Thanks for the answers.I had in mind a quick blast to clear away the worst of the weed to try and decrease fuel consumption, as I don't move her often enough to keep the weed down by travelling. It sounds as though it's not worth the effort, then.

 

As for leaving her tilted overnight while I'm on board, that never used to bother me much.

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But what will the ducks eat ?

This gentleman has a serious concern about the weed growth at and about the waterline of his boat, and your flippant response to his problem is just typical of the help that is dished out on this forum.

 

You failed to point out any, but fortunately I picked up on your in-admission, attractants.

 

If you did indeed care anything about the OP you could have pointed out the 7 day plan to reduce algae/ weed growth on the waterline areas.

 

You also failed on where the attractant can be purchased, so I will also advise on this. Do not go for the more expensive variants that are found on the internet there is a lesser known substance that will do the attraction, that can be purchased, at your local fishing tackle supply shop.

 

I think they call it 'ground bait'. After mixing with water, it forms a paste (don't use too much water), the fisherman believe, wrongly, this is an attractant for fish, but spend all day waving nets in the air and making strange hissing noises to make their attractant less attractive! (we are a strange breed)

 

Once you have the desired mix (experimentation is the key, but I'm sure you will become an expert) approximately 1 inch (25mm for the young uns) above the waterline, smear the paste along the canal side of the boat (there is a considerable decline in its effectiveness on the tow path side, further trials required to find out why).

 

On day two

 

Firstly check wether the applied attractant as been effective, (disappearance of the attractive agent) if it has, great!, you can move to stage two, if not then you will have to take stage two up to and including 50 meters either side of your boat. Stage two is simply any flour based substance thrown liberal into the cut (not on the tow path side, further experiments required to find out why this practice is ineffectual)

 

Keep repeating stage two for up to and including 5 days. On day 6 repeat the paste to the canal side of the boat. But this time actually on the waterline!

 

IMPORTANT - When applying the paste (second application) make sure this is NOT on a Friday or Saturday, this is the main days us hire people take our craft and could have a detrimental effect on the ability of the attractant to stick to your boat.

 

On day seven and going forward, if the attractant as been effective, you will only need to apply a small amount of the flour based substance on a daily basis to keep the weed / algae at bay.

 

In finishing this post I just wish to advise KevMc, please be careful with your advice, its ok to joke but there are loads of people out there that will take you serious, here;s hoping wink.png

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. Then it could be pressure washed, flaking paint removed and blacked. If you pressure washed it and prepped it in the morning and got the paint on by say around 11am, it would probably be dry enough by say 9pm to go back to level, if you wanted to stay on it overnight.

But, most blacking needs at least 24hrs to cure before being submerged doesn't it?

Edited by Androo
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But, most blacking needs at least 24hrs to cure before being submerged doesn't it?

 

Drying times are very much dependant on the temperature. In this current weather, blacking is dry in about 8 horurs! Have a look at the data sheet for your particular product to see what the manufacturers recommend before its immersed.

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If its a narrowboat, especially if on canals I doubt that the OP will achieve a noticeable improvement in fuel consumption by removing the weed growth unless it is hanging on in great curtains, even then I doubt he will. The likes of NC will when they try to plane, in fact weed can stop some boats going fast enough but not narrowboats on restricted waters or in my view any other displacement boat running at modest speed.

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And very uncomfortable when the ducks come to peck it off.

Often brought on by sitting in stagnant puddles for too long..

Often brought on by sitting in stagnant puddles for too long..

Actually weed growth is a good indicator that you still have ample blacking on your bottom. It doesn't grow well on bare bottoms.

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